A study found that outdoor camping can effectively relieve insomnia symptoms

Camping helps people develop a more natural sleeping pattern.

If insomnia has become the dark cloud hanging over your life, outdoor camping may be the weapon to blow away this dark cloud. Camping exposes the human body to natural light at dawn and dusk, which will help people fall asleep and improve sleep quality, a recent study shows. Night owls who suffer from insomnia may benefit from this activity. Researchers also found that after just a week of camping, the body's biological clock can be reset, making it easier for people to fall asleep at night, wake up more easily in the morning, and feel more energetic during the day.

Frequent exposure to artificial light can cause insomnia

The researchers tracked eight subjects with insomnia, recording their sleeping patterns and the amount of time they were exposed to artificial light (lamps, computers, cell phone screens, etc.) at home and at work. Next, they formed an experimental group of the eight adults and asked them to camp in the mountains for a week. They took away all their small electrical appliances, including their mobile phones, and relied only on sunlight and campfires for lighting.

During the first few days of camping, the team would go to bed around midnight and wake up around 8 a.m. After a week, most people were falling asleep around 10 pm and waking up at 6 am. That is to say, while the length of sleep remained unchanged, their biological clocks moved forward two hours.

Since the widespread use of electricity in the 1830s, humans have been exposed to artificial light for increasingly longer periods of time, particularly at night. Wright, the project's lead researcher, said that by allowing people to go camping and expose themselves to natural daylight, they will develop a more natural sleeping pattern that is more in line with the natural law of rising and setting.

Outdoor activities can help you sleep better

During the study, the panelists were exposed to four times more natural light than in normal life. In their experiments, the researchers found that when subjects were exposed to artificial light, melatonin levels did not decrease until two hours after waking up. This may also explain why, in modern living environments, we feel sleepy again soon after waking up in the morning.

After increasing exposure to natural light and advancing their biological clocks by two hours, the group members' melatonin levels decreased during the hour they woke up (6 a.m.), so they felt more awake and energetic in the morning and were more suited to a nine-to-five work rhythm. The researchers believe that camping is primarily a way for people to think about the impact that modern electrical lighting patterns have on our biological clocks.

However, not all insomniacs can completely isolate themselves from the world and stay in the wild for a week, and it is also difficult for modern people to get rid of artificial light. You don't have to camp to be exposed to natural light. During the day, you can increase your exposure to natural light by taking a morning walk, choosing a window seat when working, and taking a stroll outside during lunch. In the evening, turning off your computer and television and dimming the lights can help you fall asleep.